Restore over network to a HP Proliant DL 360 G3 Server

I'm in the process of valuating the TrueImage software, and got a 15day fully functional trial.

But I can't seem to get it to work on our Proliant DL360 G3 server, has any one been able to run TI on this server?

My suspicion is that for some reason the network driver that gets loaded isn't fully working, it can get an IP number from the DHCP server with a bit of help and it does respond to ping. However I'm not allowed to browse the network for the server that holds the image I want to restore.

I did a test backup/restore from a workstation and that worked fine.

It seem to load a broadcom driver for the DL360 which I don't think is the correct driver.

If there is anyone that have used TI on a proliant DL360 server did you have to do something extra to get it to work?

I feel your pain. I am having the same issue with a Dell 2650 using Broadcom Gigabit NICs. I can assign the NIC an IP, I can ping it, etc., but I can't see anything when I expand Computers Near Me. This process worked flawlessly before I upgraded to Build 1124 from 945. I have an open ticket with paid priority support...I'll let you know what happens if it can help you.

I have Dl320s and DL380s, and haven't had any issues. I do have issues with browsing, but I'm finding it's more of an issue with my network here rather than machine specific. You might try making sure the server is on the same vlan?

Hmmmm.. just reread John's post. I was thinking that all of my problems were vlan related, but I haven't been able to upgrade all of my servers yet.. since I'd need to reboot them, and some are mission critical. I'm still using a 945 boot cd, so that might explain my lack of problems.

I have had other "strange" issues with 1124.. like endless network prompts, and an inability to schedule jobs from 1124 console to other 1124 and 945 servers... which I can do if I go to the server locally.

I know I'm only trialing the software but it seems my guy I was speaking to at Acronis has stoped responding to my emails or forward my problems on to techsupport.

I would have thought that a potential sale for 10 server licenses and about 50 workstations would be enough to ensure that you at least get an acknowledgment if you run into any problems.

Any one tried to use the Bart PE plugin to get around the network driver issue? I tried to do it on the trial but it didnt work because of license issues.

Has the boot cd worked before on a Proliant DL360 server? Ohh I better add just incase it wasn't clear in previous post specifying server name like \\servername\folder\nameof.tib doesnt' work either. So the only thing that works over the network is that I can ping the server running from the bootcd.

Well I figured out this issue by myself. As you recall, I would boot from the Build 1124 Rescue CD, assign network settings, but could not expand Computers Near Me. However, using a CD from Builds 931 and 945 worked without issue on the same server and same network settings. Just when I was about to uninstall 1124 and revert back to an older version, I tried to type in the name of one of the servers in the path box instead of trying to expand Computers Near Me. So I typed in a server name like this: \\servername...and suddenly I was prompted to authenticate against the server. Odd, I thought, but I typed in the credentials for the remote server. It worked, although I could only see that one server. Seconds later, everything populated in Computers Near Me. I could see all my domains and workgroups, and all servers beneath them. It is as if I need to "jumpstart" the computer browsing in order to get it to work. I tried this process again to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and it worked. So now when I boot from the CD, I assign the network settings, then manually type the server I want to attach to in the path...then it works fine. I'm glad, but I wish it was as seamless as the older builds where I could browse immediately. I've asked support if this is normal or not (I have an open priority ticket still on this issue). I'll keep you all in the loop.

I will give this a test and see if it helps me. Will post back later with the outcome.

I'm starting to worry a bit when people who have bought the software doesn't seem to get any information from tech support about this issue...it doesn't look good if I where to buy this for my company.

I mean an acknowledgment and a statement like it will be fixed in the next build that will be released shortly ...that would satisfy me atleast for a couple of hours

I know what you mean. We have paid support and we opened a priority ticket on this issue. It took a few days to hear back, but I was able to resolve the issue myself. They said that there were no or little changes to SMB on this version, so it should work. That got me curious about typing in the IP or server name (try IP first) and it worked. I'm glad it did...I like using the latest version. I will say that they were better than Symantec Support. While I got faster results, I always got contradications and "mis-information."

Awesome...glad to help! I felt the same way this morning when I was about to stop using Build 1124. I hope the server restores fine! I've restored many in lab without issue...although I did have to work around restoring the Dell hidden paritition...I can share that with you if you have any issues with that as well.

Well thankfully the HP servers doesn't use any hidden partitions, but saying that I did a test backup and restore of a Dell Optiplex GX280 with the hidden partition and it worked flawlessly. Didn't have to do anything.

Great news. My issue was that since we use Dynamic Disk and TI 8 restores such disks as Basic Disks, upgrading them to Dynamic after the restore made the hidden partition Dynamic as well, rendering it useless. The hidden partition is supposed to be Basic, and the Dynamic upgrade made it unusable to the system. In a bare-metal restore, I now need to spin the Dell Server Setup CD first until it creates the hidden parition (this takes a few minutes overall), then restore my paritions minus the hidden parition. When you do this, you can upgrade the restored Basic disk to Dynamic without killing the hidden partition.

I have a DL360 which this does not seem to work on also. I tried entering just the \\server name when booting from the CD but I still get nothing, however if I load a OS on a target machine, then load true image, then enter just \\server name after a reboot it works and I can download the image.

Really weird. A little input from Acronis here would be helpful as we too are in an eval phase and this is troubling

Could you please boot your computer from the Acronis True Image rescue disc and press F11 key when the "Starting Acronis Loader..." message appears? After you get the "Linux Kernel Settings" prompt, please remove the "quiet" word, click on the "OK" button and wait for # prompt to appear. Please insert a diskette into a floppy disk drive and issue the following commands:

asamba dhcp -n
asamba masters

Save the output after each of the commands. After that please input the following commands:

Send the net.txt and sysinfo.txt files from the diskette and the output mentioned above to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread. Please indicate in the subject of the letter that you want to contact Marian Fadeeva.

If it is possible please create the sysinfo.txt file (please see Acronis Help Post for the instructions) using the CD created with Acronis True Image Enterprise Server build 945. This will make the investigation easier.

We have over fifty HP Proliant DL380 and 360 servers at my location. I've tried Acronis on a handful of them with little success. Sometimes I can boot a server from the Rescue media and browse the network shares without issue. Then I'll reboot the same server and this time the network is totally innaccessible from within Acronis. It seems to recognize the server's network adapters and to load the correct driver each time, but for some reason the NIC's are listed as unavailable. I've tried this on HP DL380 G3 and G4 series and HP DL360 G2 and G3 series using the two latest builds of Acronis Enterprise Server. Needless to say we are holding off on purchasing any licenses until the issue can be resolved.

This behaviour is really strange vecause the software (not only Acronis but in general all the applications) always work in the same way. This problem needs to be investigated thoroughly. Could you please send us the diagnostic info I mentioned in the previous post. We will certainly help you with the solution.

I have been out of the IT game for a little over a year now, so my memory is a little "fuzzy". Getting back to your original post for a moment, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with TI on your G3's ? Image deployment ? Backup strategy ? ...... ?

I used to work in a datacentre with a large number of G3's in a citrix farm and I used Altiris software which was recommended to me by the HP specialists at that time. Check out the website (http://www.altiris.com/products/server/) and let me know what you think, but I used it and it worked perfectly. Not one single error, configuration issue, imaging creation/restoration problem....i was thoroughly impressed

Anway, it might not be for you, but just thought this might help to have another angle to pursue.